It was alarming, the reckless way her heart leapt at that. But already, Abbie was getting used to the nervous thrill that came with hope. After all, she’d just told Will a secret so huge she’d spent years trying to keep it hidden from herself, and nothing terrible had happened. The earth hadn’t collapsed beneath them. Instead, he was looking at her like she was the sweetest thing he’d ever seen and saying things that lit her up inside, things like, “Abbie-girl, nothing you might do to me could hurt more than being without you.”

“That is ludicrous and excessively romantic and horribly unrealistic,” she told him, and her voice only wobbled a tiny bit.

“Get used to it,” Will told her, “because I have a lot of feelings for you and they’re all kind of unreasonable and I really don’t care. It doesn’t matter to me if you have things to work on. I told you last night, and I’ll tell you today, and I’ll tell you tomorrow: if you’re scared, Abbie, I just want to hold your hand.”

Oh dear. Oh God. She’d wanted to believe something like that, said by someone like him—no, only him, only him—for her entire life, and now she was determined to do so. To choose it. The very texture of his voice weaved between her ribs and held her tight, safe, secure. She was perilously close to sobbing, which made it imperative that she concentrate on something else.

Gravy was supposed to lick away the amniotic fluids surrounding her babies—Abbie had seen enough cat births to know that—but she must be too cold or too tired or both because it wasn’t happening. “I’m going to have to do this,” Abbie said out loud, and reached for the tiny new-born lump of fur and gunk, grateful for her gloves.

“Okay,” Will said. “I’m going to keep talking.”

“Yes,” she said softly, so softly the wind and the snow whipped her words away. “Please.” Because that ocean of affection she’d been so terrified of drowning in? His every word was a warm, gentle wave buoying her up. And suddenly she was floating.

“I messed things up this week, Abs,” he told her, leaning into the side of her body as she worked, letting his forehead rest against her temple. Protecting her from the worst of the cold, yes—and brushing his soft lips against her icy cheek, pressing his words into her skin like a secret. “I had this big plan—I was going to quit my job and move back home and work my way into your life, and then a year would pass and I’d be yours and you wouldn’t even know how it happened.”

She choked out a laugh as she gently wiped the tiny, mewling kitten semi-clean. “What?”